Thursday, October 04, 2007

Al Qaeda in Iraq must be starting to feel like punk bikers in a Clint Eastwood movie (to steal a line from Bill James). According to a briefing today by Major General Bergner, during the month of September, 29 senior AQI operatives were either killed or captured. Five were Emirs at the city level or higher in the AQI leadership structure. Nine were geographical or functional cell leaders. Eleven were facilitors who supported foreign terrorist weapons movements.

When Coalition Forces killed one AQI Emir, they captured more than 400 documents, three computer hard drives, two thumb drives, and eleven compact disc. Among other things, this treasure trove revealed that the names of 500 foreign terrorists being recruited by al Qaeda, including the recruiters' names, and the date and route of entry into Iraq. The terrorists came from a range of foreign countries including Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. The documents also provided information about financial transactions involved in the movements of each foreign terrorist. You can get more detailshere.

These developments occurred in a month when U.S. military deathsdeclined sharply, as did those suffered by Iraqis.

Say what you will, I still believe the move to use Iraq as the Al Qaeda Roach Motel will prove to be a brilliant one in the long run.